Google Chrome goes 4 with sync support

By Kshitij Sobti | Updated on 19-Aug-2009

19-Aug-2009

Remember that cloud synchronization feature that future versions of Chrome was supposed to have? Apparently Google has decided that it is apparently too good for Chrome 3.

For those who didn’t know, the Google Chrome browser is released in three different “channels.” Their stable channel is the one that most people use, and it contains the latest release version of Google Chrome which is stable and supported. Currently that is Chrome 2.

The “beta” channel sees updates almost every month, with features that are considered stable enough in the “dev” builds. The “beta” build now stands at version 3. The “dev” channel is the one where new features are incubated and finally integrated into the “beta” build. The “dev” build is now at version 4, while the stable release is two versions behind!

Of course if you chronically impatient you can get the source code as soon as it changes from the code repository.

For those of you who want to check out this latest version, you need to switch to the “dev” channel. You can do that using the Google Chrome channel changer tool or the instructions given here.

The sync option is disabled by default, but can be turned on by using the “–enable-sync” command line option. Once you enable it you will see an option to “Sync my bookmarks…” in the wrench menu, which will allow you to sync your bookmarks with your Google account (support for other services will be added later).

Firefox has since its release in 2004 just reached its 3.5 version this year, and version 1 itself was in development around a year! Google Chrome on the other hand jumps versions at the nearest sign of a new feature. It is quite apparent that version numbers are just a gimmick with Chrome, version 4 can thus be seen more in line as an incremental update, like a v 1.4 is you will. Then again, version numbers only have as much meaning as we give them don’t they.